Men's Hockey Falls to Brown at Home, 4-1

PRINCETON, N.J. (2/22/13) - The Princeton men's hockey team dropped a 4-1 game to Brown on Friday, Feb. 22 at Hobey Baker Rink.

The Bears took a 2-0 lead in the first period and went up one more in the second. An empty-net goal gave the Bears a four-goal cushion before junior Andrew Calof squashed the shutout with a goal in the final four minutes.

The loss puts Princeton and Brown in a tie for eighth place in the league standings, the final spot for home ice in the first round of the ECAC Tournament. With six points still available the Tigers can still earn a bye for the first round, as they are just three points out of fourth place, and five out of second place. (standings).

A miscue by the Princeton defense in front of netminder Mike Condon led to the Bears getting on the board. Mark Naclerio intercepted a pass and found Garnet Hathaway who found the back of the net at 8:20. Naclerio set up the Bears' next goal at 17:45 as he had a 2x1 with goal scorer Jeff Ryan.

Ryan tallied his second of the night with the only goal of the second period. Joey de Concilys found the puck in the neutral zone after the Princeton player that had the puck was tripped up at the blue line. de Concilys fed Ryan who skated in all alone to give the Bears a three-goal cushion.

With 5:30 to play and a faceoff in the Brown defense end, Princeton called a timeout and pulled Condon for the extra skater. The Tigers had a shot saved and two blocked before Naclerio cleared the puck down the length of the ice and into the empty net to give Brown a 4-0 lead at 15:44.

Condon returned the goal and Princeton began an offensive onslaught on the other end. Juniors Jack Berger and Andrew Ammon along with sophomore Aaron Kesselman combined for two shots saved and three blocked shots. Calof finally broke free at 17:06 when he put away a shot by Kesselman from the point. Sophomore Aaron Ave battled for the puck along the boards and pushed it up the ice to Kesselman.

Princeton would put three more shots on goal and had two shots blocked in the waning minutes.

Brown's Anthony Borelli made 32 saves as Brown improves to 10-11-5 overall and 6-8-5 in the league.

Condon stopped 34 saves for the Tigers as Brown had a 38-33 edge in shots.

Princeton drops to 9-13-4 and 7-9-3 in the league, and hopes to end a three-game losing skid against No. 13-ranked Yale tomorrow. Yale fell to No. 1 Quinnipiac 4-1 this evening.